


we've been here before

by sinequanon



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-25 15:43:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10767333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinequanon/pseuds/sinequanon
Summary: If anyone asked, Stiles would say he had very little to do with it.(Lots of formerly dead people would disagree.)





	we've been here before

**Author's Note:**

> This is canon divergent after 5A, and while I've marked it as Gen (because I don't write underage), I feel like I laid some of the groundwork for future Peter/Stiles.
> 
> Happy reading!

If asked, Stiles would say that he had very little to do with it; not that anyone believed him.

He was too focused on his crumbling relationships with Scott and his dad to pay attention to the nemeton, and frankly, it was a source of bad memories. He didn't spend a lot of time with Parrish, either, so he could be excused for not realizing that they both had connections to the tree. Stiles was busy with his own problems, and for him, the question of what kind of creature Parrish was fell by the wayside. Unfortunately, by the time Lydia figured out that the deputy was a hellhound, things were already falling apart.

Theoretically, only the people that Parrish had delivered to the nemeton should have been resurrected; in reality, ten years of supernatural deaths were ultimately undone. With Scott and Theo still fighting the Doctors, the town was lucky that most of the potentially problematic resurrected people simply thanked their good fortune and left town rather than renew old grudges.

As for the rest? Well, if Stiles ever saw another Berserker again, he was going to pack up and move to Alaska. Seriously.

Because evidently, Stiles and the nemeton could resurrect all of the supernatural deaths in Beacon Hills of the last decade. Who knew?

(Not Deaton, apparently, because the man had fainted when Talia Hale walked into his office two months after the resurrections began.)

The returns happened slowly, starting with the chimeras. The people killed in the deadpool came back a couple of weeks later. Four days after that, Stiles opened his door to find Aiden and Allison standing on his porch. They spent an hour talking him through his panic attack, and then another contacting Ethan, Mr. Argent, and Isaac. By the time Allison finished talking with her dad, Stiles was dozing on the end of sofa, though he kept jerking awake to make sure the two of them hadn't vanished.

"Just go to sleep, Stilinski." Aiden was giving him an inscrutable look. "We'll be here when you wake up."

Still exhausted from his attack, Stiles let his eyes slip shut to the sound of Allison talking to Isaac.

<> <>

"Stiles, wake up. You need to eat something." A girl's voice filtered through the fog in his brain, and he squinted up at Allison, who was staring down at him with a bowl of soup in her hands. Stiles winced at the residual pounding in his head, but sat up to take the food. "Ethan will be here sometime tomorrow, and my dad and Isaac will be here by the end of the week. If you're willing to put up with Aiden and I tonight, we'll go to a hotel tomorrow."

“You don't have to,” he assured them. After everything with Scott, and his dad being in the hospital? He wanted to beg them to stay. He hadn't fallen quite that far yet, though. "No offense, but why are you here?" He glanced at Aiden, who was sprawled out in the recliner watching TV. "Scott's the alpha."

"We were drawn to _you_ , not him," Aiden shrugged, not looking away from the screen. "If you don't feel comfortable around my brother and I, we can go to Scott. I'd rather stay here, though."

Stiles frowned around his food. "Why? I got you killed."

"You also brought us back,” Aiden countered. He ignored Allison's noise of protest at Stiles's assertion and grinned at the other boy. "And really, I was killed by the Oni, not by some puny human."

Surprisingly, that made Stiles feel better, even if Allison clearly didn't agree with Stiles's interpretation of events. He felt the knot that had been in his chest since the nogitsune loosen a little.

Stiles spent the rest of the night catching Allison and Aiden up on everything that had happened since the nogitsune and promising them that he wouldn't hold it against them if they wanted to leave town.

Aiden called him stupid, and Allison just hugged him until he couldn't breathe.

The next afternoon when Ethan arrived, he gave a stunned Stiles a pie in thanks. Stiles gave Ethan the guest room to share with his brother and permission to use the kitchen at any time.

<> <>

"So, tell us about Scott's new friend."

Mr. Argent and Isaac had greeted Stiles almost as warmly as they had Allison, and Stiles was still a having a little bit of trouble wrapping his head around it. First Aiden and Allison, then Isaac and Mr. Argent, all being nice to him and taking his ideas seriously...had things really fallen that far with Scott, or was this some sort of weird sympathy thing?

“Huh?” he said dumbly.

Isaac rolled his eyes and helped himself to more bacon. "Allison told us that Scott was being a jerk. Do you have any idea why?” He gave his empty plate a sad little look and Stiles graciously slid his unfinished pancakes in front of the werewolf. Whatever else was going on, no one could say that Stiles wasn't a good host.

"Because Theo is somehow super evil? He supposedly went to elementary school with Scott and I, and he has a dead sister, and he works for the Dread Doctors, the creepy, mad scientist-type people who turned those people into chimeras."

He told them everything he knew, and all the hunches he had, but his distance from the pack had hurt him. And on top of everything else--

Stiles knew what was coming when Chris Argent looked at him with sad eyes. "How's your dad?"

Stiles felt totally justified when he burst into tears. He probably clung a little too tightly to his friend's father and let him soothe him like his own dad would have, but no one called him on it.

<> <>

While Scott and Theo's packs were taking on the Doctors, Stiles's Home for the Formerly Dead and Friends grew by two. Boyd showed up on a Thursday in the middle of dinner, looking as calm and cool as ever. He offered Stiles a quick barely-there smile when the other boy greeted him before disappearing with Isaac and the twins to coordinate Stiles's werewolf protection detail or something equally as ridiculous.

(Although, to be fair, Stiles and the Argents were busy planning for the possible return of the darach and the alpha pack, so he supposed it didn't hurt to be too careful.)

He wasn't sure why everyone was giving him so much attention, though. It made him itchy.

Actually, Jennifer Blake should have returned before Boyd, but if she had, she was keeping out of sight. For once, Stiles let someone else worry about it and focused on his dad instead.

Chris and Isaac announced themselves to Scott and offered much needed help, but both Allison and Aiden had chosen to keep themselves out of sight. Even so, Stiles was surprised that Deaton hadn't said anything to Scott. Surely he had noticed that people were still coming back?

Unlike everyone else who was courteous enough to visit Stiles at home, Erica found Stiles crying in his dad's hospital room bathroom. He was getting better, Stiles knew--his cheeks had some color and his breathing was better--but all Stiles could think about was that Scott still hadn't apologized for abandoning them. When it had really mattered, Scott hadn't been there. As much as Stiles wanted to forgive his best friend, he couldn't. Not yet.

He was sitting on the floor using an entire roll of cheap toilet paper to wipe his face when he heard the door open. If it was Kali or Ennis come to kill him, he was dead weight right now. They were going to have to do all of the work.

"Hey, Batman," Erica said softly, sliding down next to him and throwing an arm around his shoulders. "How long do you think it's going to take for Derek to get his butt here?" At Stiles's blank look, she added, "He can feel the bonds again, I'm sure. And, he'll kick Scott's ass for you, if you want."

Stiles gave a half-laugh, half-sob, and dropped his head onto Erica's shoulder. "I just want my dad back." He sighed, tearing up bits of toilet paper while Erica held him. "And to think, Scott was supposed to be a more reasonable alpha than Derek."

Erica barked out a surprised laugh, and held him tighter. It was good to see that Stiles hadn't given up, even if he was hurting. She'd have to ask Stiles about what had happened while she was gone, especially if golden boy Scott had somehow become an alpha and had a falling out with his best friend since forever.

It was odd, actually. She could feel connections with Isaac, Boyd, Derek, and Peter, but she could feel other, unfamiliar bonds if she focused. She assumed that one of them belonged to Stiles since she had been drawn to him as soon as she woke up, but she put it aside to worry about later, when Stiles didn't look like he was going to keel over from exhaustion.

<> <>

Boyd, Erica, Allison and the twins all rallied around Stiles, much to his confusion. After all, with the exception of Erica, each of them had spent more time with Scott than with Stiles prior to their deaths. None of them went to school because two-thirds of them were officially dead, and Isaac and Ethan were taking turns sitting with his dad in the hospital. When Stiles wasn't in school, though, someone was always with him.

He was absurdly grateful for the support.

After a surreal conversation with Mrs. Baker down the street, Stiles realized that most people had forgotten that the people coming back were ever dead to begin with; it was convenient, but really creepy watching the older woman talk to Allison as if they had seen each other just the day before.

Kali eventually showed up in town, obviously looking for a fight, but Chris killed her before she managed to start any trouble. If Ennis was resurrected, he left town before Stiles and the others ever saw him.

Life continued. In the month since the chimeras were resurrected, everyone who had died since Scott had been bitten had been brought back to life. No one knew if the nemeton would keep bringing people back, or for how long, and every attempt at research was unsuccessful. If the nemeton wasn't done, there was no telling who it would bring back next. If there were more people, Stiles privately hoped that they didn't want to live with him, because as much as he appreciated the company, he was running out of room.

Case in point: their Friday night pack meeting barely fit in the living room.

“We aren't going to go to Deaton,” Allison mentioned for the third time, swiftly derailing the argument before Isaac could make it, “so who else can we ask for help?”

As far as anyone could tell, Scott and Deaton hadn't yet realized that the nemeton was still waking the dead, which was pretty worrisome considering they were supposed to be protecting the territory. Granted, they _were_ busy at the moment, but it wasn't like Boyd and Erica were being particularly subtle as they ran around town. Maybe Scott assumed they were hallucinations?

“I'm going to have to talk to Peter,” Stiles finally conceded after they were out of options.

“Where is he?” Erica asked from where she was crammed between Boyd and Ethan on the couch. “We can feel him in the pack bonds, but we haven't seen him.”

“I just assumed he was out of town, like Derek,” offered Isaac. “Or hiding somewhere, plotting world domination.”

Stiles had to force himself to say the words, mostly because he couldn't even think about _that_ place without wanting to throw up. “Peter is in Eichen House for trying to kill Scott for his alpha powers.”

“What's Eichen--” Erica broke off when Stiles flinched and Allison kicked her under the table.

Stiles sighed heavily. “If anyone knows what supernatural creatures were around in the past few years, it would be him.”

“But he was comatose for years,” Erica pointed out.

“What do you think he was doing when he disappeared all of the time, running a knitting circle?” Stiles reminded them. “This was a guy who brought himself back from the dead. He'll have answers, or he’ll be able to tell us who does.”

<> <>

The hardest part about visiting Eichen House wasn't actually Peter; it was his own fractured memories of the place. Sometimes, in the dead of night, he let himself wonder what would have happened if he hadn't traded himself for Malia. Would Oliver still be trapped in Eichen House? Would the nogitsune be trapped inside Oliver? Would Scott have hated him that much sooner if he had let Malia die, and let Oliver kill those people? Would Stiles even be alive? Would _that_ have made things easier for his dad and Scott?

Stiles forced down all of the doubts and went to visit his sometime nemesis. Even if the older wolf didn't have any information, Stiles was almost looking forward to seeing him. With everything else in his life going sideways, at least he could depend on Peter to be his normally biting and manipulative self.

“Hello, Stiles. It's always a pleasure to see you.” The wolf sat on his bed, legs crossed, back pressed against the wall. His eyes flashed briefly when he saw Stiles, but made no move to get up. Stiles sat next to him, copying his pose, and let his head thunk against the wall. Stiles saw the wolf staring at him out of the corner of his eye. “You smell of power.”

Ignoring the inherent creepiness of that comment, Stiles turned to the wolf. “Peter, I need your help.”

“You must be desperate, coming to me after I tried to kill your beloved alpha,” the older man replied idly, but his eyes shone. Stiles held back a shiver, but whether it was from the cold or from Peter's tone of voice, Stiles couldn't say.

He wanted to take a minute to breathe, and pull himself together, but every second he spent holding back the truth felt like a rock in his stomach. Better to just get it out. “Scott is part of the problem, and,” he bit back a sob, but Peter obviously saw something in his face because his gaze sharpened, “my dad is in the hospital right now.” He ended on a whisper, and he wanted to kick himself for getting so emotional in front of Peter Hale.

“I'm sorry to hear that, Stiles,” Peter offered, and Stiles was surprised by the sincerity in his voice. Then Peter put his arm around Stiles, and things started to get a little blurry.

Peter didn't say a word while Stiles leaned into his shoulder and let the tears roll down his cheeks.

Later, when Stiles was exhausted and leaning bonelessly against him, Peter spoke again. “You smell like,” he shook his head, “I smell Boyd, and the Argent girl, and…” He stared at Stiles with wide eyes. “What have you done?”

The teenager shook his head. “I don't know, but I need your help.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“So, Parrish is a hellhound. He's been unconsciously taking the dead chimeras to the nemeton, and somehow, Theo resurrected them to become his pack so he could take out Scott. But, the Dread Doctors are trying to take out both packs, so…”

“What does that have to do with me?” Peter asked.

“The nemeton didn't stop bringing people back after the chimeras. It brought back Satomi’s pack, and Allison and Aiden and Erica and Boyd. If it keeps going, Laura will be resurrected soon. And then, we’re into uncharted territory. Is there anyone nasty we need to know about if the nemeton keeps going?”

To his credit, Peter didn't pretend to misunderstand him. “From what I could gather, it was mostly peaceful and Satomi easily ran off the few interlopers that came through. If Laura returns--”

“If she comes back, I'll send her your way,” he promised.

<> <>

When his dad finally woke up, Stiles didn't move from his side for two days. After hours of circular arguing, the Sheriff had given up on talking him into going to school, but he was worried that his son wasn't eating or sleeping properly since he hadn't seen Stiles do either since Noah had woken up in the hospital. Even worse, he learned that his son had essentially been on his own for over a month, and Melissa had told him that the rift between Scott and Stiles had only grown wider during that time. Father and son only danced around the topic of Theo, though, both of them too battered from recent events to have that particular exhausting conversation.

Stiles had finally crashed on the guest couch in the corner of his room when he heard a soft knock at his door, followed by the unlikely appearance of Chris Argent, carrying a bag of fast food.

“Hello, Sheriff,” the man said, stepping quietly into the room. “I'm glad to see you're awake.”

Noah nodded towards the bag. “Is that for me?”

“It's for Stiles. He hasn't been eating enough, but we're trying to keep an eye on him.” He shot the boy a fond glance. “Hopefully, now that you're awake, he’ll take better care of himself.”

“No offense, but why are you here? Last I heard, you were in France.”

Chris placed the bag aside, cast another look at Stiles, and turned to the Sheriff. “How much did Stiles tell you about what's been going on in the past few weeks?”

“He said that the nemeton had brought back the chimeras and a few other people. Why?”

The hunter sighed. “The nemeton started by bringing back the chimeras using Parrish as a conduit. Then it kept going, using Stiles.” He fixed the Sheriff with a look that the man couldn't interpret.

“Allison showed up at Stiles’s door a few weeks ago.” Argent sucked in a breath, and his eyes shone with unshed tears before he blinked them away. “Stiles brought my daughter back to life, and I'll never be able to repay him.”

<> <>

Derek ignored it when what felt like the bonds to Boyd and Erica flickered back to life, despite the fact that Cora’s bewildered face mirrored his own. They paused in their hike only long enough to throw each other looks of concern before settling back into the tentative happiness that they had reached in their last few months together.

Derek's rebirth as a new wolf had helped him let go of some of his guilt and reach out to his younger sister after the trail for the Desert Wolf went cold and he and Braeden had parted ways, but it hadn't given him the security to entirely trust his instincts. Especially in this case.

It was impossible to ignore when, weeks later, Laura’s connection flared suddenly in their minds. Less than twenty-four hours after that, they were on their way back to Beacon Hills.

<> <>

Stiles nearly fainted when Laura Hale walked into the cafeteria during lunch and sat herself down next to him. As it was, he was going to have a nasty bruise on his shin for weeks from whacking it against the table at the sight of her. Briefly taking his eyes off the wolf, he glanced worriedly across the room to the table where Scott and the others sat. Thankfully, they were too busy planning their next move against the Doctors to notice him.

“Hi, there,” she said cheerfully, stealing one of his fries and popping it in her mouth. “I'm Laura."

Ever eloquent, Stiles responded with the first thing that came to mind. “You come back to life and the first thing you do is go to high school?”

Rather than be offended, Laura laughed. “I'll have you know, for many people, high school is the highlight of their lives.”

“Oh, yeah. Stupid people doing stupid things in the name of popularity and posting them online so that their kids can be humiliated by proxy in twenty years. Sounds like fun.”

She eyed him mock-critically and stole more fries. “You don't look much like an alpha, but--”

“Whoa,” Stiles interrupted. “I am not an alpha. I'm not a wolf or a banshee or anything.”

“Maybe,” she conceded, thrusting a fry in his direction. “But you did bring us back, and that creates a bond. Both people have to accept it, of course, but it's not _unlike_ a pack bond. You already have bonds with some people, I can tell, so one more isn't going to hurt, right?”

“Sure?” Stiles said, confused.

“Great! See you later, Stiles.”

<> <>

The first thing that Peter said when Stiles opened the door was, “Really, Stiles? I had thought you'd enjoy the challenge of breaking me out yourself."

The teenager would have snorted, except he was more concerned with the way Laura was grinning like a maniac from behind her uncle. “So I sprung Fester, here,” she said, “because he's a lot more stable now and we want to help.”

“Help with what?” he asked, stepping aside to let them in.

“Everything. It was our family's job to protect this town,” her eyes slid to Peter, “and we sucked at it. So now, we're going to help the guy in charge until Derek and Cora come back and we figure out whatever it is that we’re doing.”

“What? No! I'm not...all I did was give the nemeton juice, okay? And I didn't even mean to do it, and I don't think I could do it again. I'm definitely not in charge of anything.” He nearly tipped over a lamp, and then gestured to it as if illustrating his point.

“I can feel the bonds, Stiles. Even stronger than the last time you visited,” Peter smirked as Stiles fidgeted and blushed. “At this point, you have as much right to the territory as Scott.”

“Now, feed me and introduce me to the rest of your pack,” Laura cried, throwing herself on the couch and reaching for the remote control.

<> <>

Laura fit remarkably well in with the rest of the group, and even Peter seemed to have mellowed a bit with her around. Whatever issues they had, they must have worked out on their own, because Laura gave her uncle affection with the same casual acceptance she shared it with with everyone else.

Laura took to homeschooling the formerly dead teenagers so that they could catch up with the rest of their class, with Peter teaching them all about the supernatural world in the evenings. Chris provided weapons training for everyone under the Sheriff's watchful eye, and Stiles ironically found himself playing group psychologist.

It still hurt every time he saw Scott at school, and he still wanted to murder Theo, but his dad was almost completely healed and home, and their relationship was getting better. They were still awkward with each other, but it was Peter who seemed to go out of his way to make sure the two of them spent quality time together.

When Stiles had asked Laura about it, she smiled at him and said that he should just accept it and milk Peter for all he was worth.

<> <>

Thanksgiving was not a holiday that was usually celebrated in the Stilinski household. Neither man saw the point in making a big meal for just the two of them, so the Sheriff usually worked that day to give deputies with larger families the chance to be at home. Scott's mom usually worked Thanksgiving, too, so Scott and Stiles's holiday tradition generally involved hanging out and eating Chinese food and copious amounts of candy.

That definitely wouldn't be happening this year, at least between Scott and Stiles. Stiles tried not to consider the possibility that Scott would invite Theo instead and moped for a day until Allison snapped him out of it.

What Stiles had failed to consider, however, was the possibility of everyone else in his house being in the mood for turkey. Before Stiles knew it, dishes and desserts were assigned and everyone was talking about their contribution to the upcoming feast. When Stiles pointed out that he hadn't been given a job, Chris countered that he had provided the venue and carried on assigning jobs to other people.

Between Peter's turkey, Allison's stuffing, and the twins’ pies, and everyone else's determination to distract Stiles, he hardly had time to miss the Chinese food. It was the best Thanksgiving he’d had since his mother died, and he didn't think about Scott at all.

<> <>

Stiles, Peter and Aiden were in the middle of a plan to break Lydia out of Eichen House when the final resurrections happened. Aiden had just suggested smuggling mountain ash into the hospital when there was a loud thump from his bedroom upstairs where the girls were watching a movie. Before Stiles could reach the stairs, however, Peter had fallen as well and was writhing on the floor.

Stiles turned back to the older wolf, but the man had already stopped shaking by the time Stiles reached him. He motioned for Aiden to check on the girls and bent over Peter, unsure of where to touch him.

Suddenly, Peter arched up with a gasp, and before Stiles could pull away Peter pulled the boy down on top of him and buried his face in Stiles's hair.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…”

Concerned, Stiles tried to pry himself away from Peter, only to be squeezed harder. “Peter, what's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong,” Laura said, voice heavy, just before she threw herself on top of Stiles with an oomph. “You just gave us our family back,” she breathed.

Stiles stilled. So, that's what that tingling in the back of his head was? “All of them?”

Laura answered by shoving her face harder into the back of his neck.

“What are you still doing here, then?” he asked, trying to wiggle out from in between the two werewolves. “Go to them! I'll be here if you need me.”

It took a surprisingly long time to get them to move, not that Stiles particularly minded. Twenty minutes later, while Laura and Peter were walking out the door, Talia Hale was walking into Alan Deaton’s office.

<> <>

The next day at school was really bad. Scott had been at the clinic when the Hales showed up, but hadn't put anything together until Peter and Laura Hale walked in as well.

Deaton was still laid out on the floor, and Scott's head kept swiveling from Talia to Peter to Laura and back again like some sort of children's toy.

“How did you get out of Eichen House?” he asked incredulously. “What did you do?”

“They let me out on good behavior,” he said, baring his teeth to belie the statement. “And I didn't do anything. They aren't the only ones who have come back, you know.” He sent his sister a quick smile, but didn't move.

“Yeah, I know. The chimeras are back, too.”

Peter rolled his eyes at the teenager’s ignorance. “And everyone in between those two sets of people,” he added.

“What?”

The veterinarian chose that moment to wake, and while Scott was helping his boss, Peter and Laura took the opportunity to greet their family.

“What has happened?” Deaton asked, staring at Talia. “How did--”

“All of the supernatural deaths of the last decade have been undone,” Laura broke in. “While you’ve been off playing doctor, we've been taking care of old enemies.”

For a moment, the vet looked like he’d pass out again, but after a moment he composed himself. “When did you return?”

Laura grinned. “I've been around for a couple of weeks. But not as long as some people,” she stated, looking pointedly at Scott.

“But Mr. Argent and Isaac--”

“Returned because Allison asked them to.”

“Allison’s alive?”

The look on Scott's face was nearly heartbreaking, but Laura shrugged it off.

“She and Chris have been living with the Stilinskis, though I think Chris is looking into buying his own house right now.”

Scott had to sit down before he passed out, too.

<> <>

Early the next morning, most of the visitors to the local hotel where the Hales were staying were woken by the sound of squealing tires as Derek and Cora finally made it home.

<> <>

The Hales were everything that Stiles had imagined them to be: a strange combination of regal and ridiculous that had all but forced Derek to let go of his guilt about the fire within a month of their return. Stiles could handle Hales coming up to him on the sidewalk, or calling him at all hours of the day, but Stiles was still getting used to Peter, Derek, and Cora hugging him every time they saw him.

(Frankly, he wasn't sure he'd _ever_ get used to it.)

By the time Christmas rolled around, things were as close to boring as they had been for Stiles prior to Scott being bitten, at least in terms of near-death experiences. The Hales had helped Scott and Theo get rid of the Dread Doctors (and shortly thereafter run Theo out of town), rescued Lydia, started building a new house, re-enrolled all the teenagers (and their own children) in school, and had confidently settled back into daily life in Beacon Hills.

Stiles had no idea who had spoken to Scott, but suddenly his best friend was everywhere, trying to make amends. It was immensely flattering, and Stiles definitely would forgive Scott. Eventually.

The weirdest part for Stiles was that even though everyone except for the twins had moved out of his house, everyone still treated him like he was in charge. At school, Boyd, Erica, and the others followed him around like puppies. At home, Allison still spent the night more often than not. His dad made jokes about having adopted a daughter while he was sleeping, much to Allison’s pleasure.

It wasn't just his old friends, either. Talia was always willing to listen to his opinion, no matter how outrageous; Derek's older brother Michael kept singing his praises all over town; and Sasha and Rose, the two youngest Hales, almost caused a traffic accident running across the road to talk to him one day.

Sometimes Stiles wondered what he had done to earn such loyalty and friendship (not out loud, of course, because when he did, Derek gave him sad eyes and Laura smacked him upside the head), but mostly, Stiles was glad that he still had a place to belong.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the poem "Sudden Light" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
> 
> I don't know if anyone noticed, but I made a mistake with this one: I totally forgot Victoria Argent existed until I was in the middle of editing, and then I didn't feel like doing anything about it. So, please pretend that Chris and Victoria got divorced before Chris and Allison came to Beacon Hills, and Victoria is off terrifying the masses somewhere else.
> 
> Next week: Two more stories in _witch's brew_ , and I'm thinking of adding a couple of pieces to _listening for echoes_ as well.
> 
> See you then, and as always, thanks for reading!


End file.
